Shaw: Minnesota Legislature far outshines North Dakota’s

What a difference a border makes. In the just completed Minnesota legislative session, Democratic legislators passed some extraordinary bills that will enormously help families, workers, women and minorities, while making the state a little safer from gun violence. To virtually all Republicans in the

North Dakota Legislature,

those issues don’t matter.

In Minnesota, there will be much needed

paid family and medical leave

for people who are seriously ill, have a close relative with a serious health condition and for parents to bond with a new child. In North Dakota in those situations, you’re out of luck and on your own.

Likewise, if you’re sick in Minnesota or need to see a doctor, employees will now receive badly needed

paid sick time, up to 48 hours a year.

In North Dakota if you get sick, that’s just too bad.

In Minnesota, families with young children will get a big break, as

all K-12 students will now receive free school meals.

The North Dakota Legislature

rejected that idea,

so those free meals will just go to children from low-income families. Also, tuition will now be free at Minnesota public colleges for families making less than $80,000 a year.

Pregnant women in Minnesota will still have choices, as

the legislature codified

abortion rights. This was necessary after the liars on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In North Dakota, women with unwanted pregnancies are not allowed abortions after six weeks from conception. This shamefully even applies to girls who are raped, as they are unlikely to know they are pregnant at six weeks.

Transgender minors in Minnesota are now rightfully guaranteed they will receive the medical treatment they need. In North Dakota, that treatment was disgracefully banned by legislators with no medical backgrounds. Dangerous and worthless gay conversion therapy, opposed by major medical groups, is now thankfully banned in Minnesota. In North Dakota, Republican lawmakers refuse to acknowledge the science and reality of being gay or transgender.

Because of the nation’s epidemic of gun violence and mass shootings, Minnesota lawmakers took some action. They passed a common sense

“red flag” law

where family members can ask the courts to temporarily ban someone from possessing a firearm if they pose a risk to others. They also closed a loophole by requiring background checks for private sales of firearms. It’s a nice start. In North Dakota, they do nothing. People, no matter their backgrounds, are encouraged to be armed all the time.

If you’re looking for an outstanding musical with terrific singing, dancing and acting, check out “The Prom” at Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Hansen Theatre on June 13, 14 and 15. Produced by the Act Up Theatre,

Straw Hat Players

and Wheelhouse, the show has timely messages of kindness, courage and equal rights for all.

Special thanks to my brother Howard Shaw and my sister-in-law Eva Shaw, for their fantastic help with

my story on the migrants in El Paso.

Howard took some of the pictures and Eva was the translator. I couldn’t have done the story without them.

Shaw is a former WDAY TV reporter and former KVRR TV news director.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum’s editorial board nor Forum ownership.

InForum columnist Jim Shaw is a former WDAY TV reporter and former KVRR TV news director.